PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: A Two-Show Day at Broadway's Machinal With Maria-Christina Oliveras

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19 Feb 2014

No stranger to instantaneous character transformation and quick changes, Maria-Christina Oliveras is currently playing multiple roles in the Roundabout's revival of Machinal. She shares her daily activities and backstage rituals with Playbill.com.

This look was my OK Cupid pic for a while— a surprising number of replies!

Photo by Maria-Christina Oliveras

Oliveras was previously seen in Here Lies Love, the critically-acclaimed new musical by David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim, directed by Alex Timbers at the Public Theater, which she will be returning to when it re-opens at the end of March.

Director Lyndsey Turner (Chimerica at Almeida; Philadelphia, Here I Come! at Donmar) also makes her Broadway debut. When Turner turned to Hall to play Machinal's leading lady, "I just instantly responded to her," Hall told Playbill magazine. "She hasn't directed me before, but I felt such an overwhelming trust in her presence that I knew I could probably do anything she asked me to do."

Of her character, Hall added, "In the play, she's described as a young woman who's like any woman. I think Treadwell is trying to say there is nothing particularly extraordinary about her. She's an Everywoman, and the story's about how an ordinary woman, in not extraordinary circumstances, is driven to murder. Nothing makes her mad or crazy. She's normal."

Here's how the play is billed: "Inspired by the infamous 1927 murder trial of Ruth Snyder, Machinal is a gripping drama by American journalist and playwright Sophie Treadwell. It's America's Golden Age, a time of happiness, freedom and prosperity – or is it? For the Young Woman (Hall), a stenographer in the industrial, male-dominated world of the 1920s, life is nothing like she hoped it would be. Restless and unfulfilled in a passionless marriage and unwanted motherhood, she finds her only joy in the form of an illicit love affair. But when reality sets in and she must return to her routine existence, she’ll go to any lengths to regain her freedom. A groundbreaking work in the landscape of American theatre, Machinal is a riveting look at the danger that can come from a life unlived."

Hall's credits on the London stage include Mrs. Warren's Profession, which earned her the Ian Charleson Award in 2003, As You Like It (Ian Charleson-nominated), Man and Superman, The Fight for Barbara, Galileo's Daughter, Don Juan, A Winter's Tale (Ian Charleson Award), The Cherry Orchard (Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination) and Twelfth Night directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Hall can currently be seen on screen in "Iron Man 3." She received a Golden Globe Award nomination for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Her film credits also include "Lay the Favorite," "The Awakening," "The Town," "Everything Must Go," "Please Give," "Dorian Gray," "Frost/Nixon," "The Prestige" and "Starter for 10," which marked her feature-film debut.

Machinal premiered on Broadway in 1928 featuring a young Clark Gable in his Broadway debut and then in London in 1931 under the title of The Life Machine. The play was revived in 1993 in London featuring Fiona Shaw, Ciarán Hinds and John Woodvine and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival.